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Three or four times a week we eat eggs at home, I love them for breakfast in a bagel with tomatoes, spinach and cheese, or in flat bread with vegetables. Sometimes we eat eggs for lunch or dinner in a frittata with kale and red potatoes like inthe recipe at the end of this article.

What we eat, how much we eat and how the food is prepared determines our health and the development of many diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. One major contributing factor to heart disease is high blood cholesterol. Doctors agree that a diet low in saturated fats, trans-fats, and cholesterol help prevent high blood cholesterol.

Cholesterol is found only in foods from animals, such as meat, fish, poultry, egg yolks, butter, cheese and other dairy products made from whole milk. Saturated fats are also found in foods from animals, especially meat, lard, poultry fat, butter, cheeses and other whole-milk products. Trans-fats are used in commercial baking goods and stick margarines made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

EGGS

Over the years, there has been a lot of confusion about eggs and our health. Eggs are high in protein, B vitamins, iron and other nutrients. Egg yolks are very high in cholesterol. But, even foods with no cholesterol can increase our blood cholesterol. This is because some types of fats increase blood cholesterol – these fats are called “saturated fats” and “trans-fats” or “trans-fatty acids.” In fact, saturated and trans-fats in foods may increase blood cholesterol as much or more than just eating cholesterol.

The American Heart Association still recommends that people limit their dietary cholesterol to 300 mg.One large egg has about 213 mg of cholesterol, which is about 71% of the daily-recommended limit. For example, if you ate one scrambled egg for breakfast, drank 2 cups of coffee with a tablespoon each ofhalf-and-half, then for lunch ate a turkey sandwich, made of 4 oz of lean turkey meat and one tablespoon of regular mayonnaise, and for dinner, had a 6 oz serving of broiled pork chops, you would have consumed over 400 mg of cholesterol that day. This is over the recommended 300 mg limit. This doesn’t include any pie or snacks!

Balance eating an egg by replacing meat at the next meal with a vegetarian dish. It’s okay to eat an egg occasionally, make your food choices considering their milligrams of cholesterol to keep your daily cholesterol intake below 300 mg. Limiting yourself to 3 to 4 eggs per week makes it easier to keep dietary cholesterol below 300 mg each day. Egg whites and cholesterol-free egg substitutes do not contain any cholesterol. Try using two egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute in place of one whole egg in cooking and baking.

One exception: If your blood cholesterol is already high (over 240 mg/dL), or if you have high blood pressure or diabetes, your daily limit should be 200 mg. One large egg would exceed this limit; instead, consider eating small eggs, which contain less cholesterol (157 mg).